Wednesday, 31 August 2011

The distributor Sega will release Mikunopolis in Los Angeles, virtual idol Hatsune Miku's July 2 concert at Anime Expo, on Blu-ray Disc, DVD, and CD in Japan. Produced in collaboration with Crypton Future Media, the CD will ship on November 30, and the Blu-ray and DVD releases will follow on December 21.

Over 5,000 people attended Hatsune Miku's first overseas concert, which built upon last year's "Miku no Hi Kanshasai" concert by adding new songs and new costumes. Fellow virtual idols Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len, and Megurine Luka also appeared.

All 24 songs, including some with accoustic arrangments and English lyrics, from the concert will be included. The home video releases will add a bonus booklet, a making-of video with photographs of Hatsune Miku, the opening MC presentation, and the opening act by two members of the dance unit Danceroid.

The popular Chinese television animation program Xin Ling Zhi Chuang (Spirit's Window), which was accused in 2009 of copying several backgrounds, with minor modifications, from Makoto Shinkai's 5 Centimeters Per Second anime film, has won the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region's highest art and literature award, causing a big stir among Chinese Internet users.

Xin Ling Zhi Chuang began running nationwide on China Central Television (CCTV), a major state-owned television company in mainland China, in July 2009. After the show was accused of plagiarism, the show's production company launched an investigation. It reported that out of more than 2,500 sequences, 28 sequences resembled sequences from Shinkai's work. The company concluded that what happened was due to an insufficient final check on a subcontracting studio.

The show's production company reported that since November 2009, all of the parts of the show that plagiarized Shinkai's work were corrected. The art and literature office of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Communist Party Committee's public relations department said that it will consider the reaction from Internet users about the award and will launch an investigation. It added that if the plagiarism suspicions cannot be cleared, it will "hand down a strict punishment."

Xin Ling Zhi Chuang is a series of short episodes that was produced by the local government's propaganda department and the Lanhai Technology animation company in Liuzhou, a city in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of southern China. The program's introduction describes it as "a program produced for the youth of China, and animation to raise wholesome minds and teach a noble view of life."

The Korean maker SBS Artech revealed the design for the new Korean Vocaloid character "SeeU" on Tuesday (pictured at right). In June, SBS Artech showcased a song by a synthesized Vocaloid voice that is based off the voice of up-and-coming Korean idol singer Kim Tahi.

In a separate development, the LAWSON convenience store chain's new mascot, "Akiko-chan" will receive a synthesized Vocaloid voice makeover to become "Akikoroid-chan," who will act as a navigator for LAWSON's new Nico Nico Douga channel. The channel will officially launch with "Akikoroid-chan's" new look on September 6.

"Akiko-chan" will also act as the company's spokesperson on more than 10 different social media services including Twitter.

The website of the Telegraph newspaper has published a preview article on the upcoming TeZuKa dance performance at Sadler's Wells, inspired by the life and work of Osamu Tezuka. There will be five evening performances of TeZuKa from Tuesday September 6 to Saturday September 10 (tickets) .

The article profiles the half-Flemish half-Moroccan Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (pictured), who choreographed TeZuKa. From the piece:

With the help of some top-drawer collaborators – Nitin Sawhney with a sinewy and melancholic score, a set of beautiful simplicity by Willy Cessa, on-stage musicians and a cast of 10 drawn from both Japan and Europe – it is clear, even at the rehearsal stage, that Cherkaoui is giving us an entire world in TeZuKa, one that is both alien and resonant.
Amid long white blinds – like scrolls of paper – on to which are projected shifting squares representing frames in an animation, the dancers perform moves that do, indeed, resemble the strokes of a pen. But what they also conjure, far more tellingly, is the very act of artistic creation. (...)

(Osman Tezuka's) stories are like little myths. At times, they are also incredibly dark and daring – “One story can take on four taboos,” as Cherkaoui says – and deal with issues such as homosexuality, incest and religion.

For example, a passage in TeZuKa depicts the relationship between a priest and a boy whom he has raped. Their twisted connection makes for an intensely powerful duet, while above the dancers' heads, extraordinary images from the original cartoon are projected.(...)

Now 35, Cherkaoui grew up watching Tezuka on French television, drinking in a morality that "shows consequences, but does not make judgments." A character such as Astro Boy could be seen as merely a child's superhero; in fact, as Cherkaoui convincingly asserts: “Comic books are not just for children – there's real authorship in them, and because you also have to be able to draw, they are really just like theatre.”

There is another article on the TeZuKa performance in today's Guardian newspaper (August 31).

YouTube's Kadokawa Anime Channel began streaming a 159-second promotional video for R-15 Portable, the PSP adventure game based on Hiroyuki Fushimi and Takuya Fujima's R-15 light novel series. The story centers around Taketo Akutagawa, a student with a secret: he is a talented pornographic novelist with a newspaper-serialized work. He enrolls in a school that only accepts geniuses, and risque trouble ensues there.
In the "Manuscript-Writing Part" of the game, the player (as Akutagawa) has seven days before the deadline for his latest novel. Meanwhile, the player also has to juggle his relationships with his fellows students in the game's "School Life Part." Depending on how much of the novel is completed and how well the player does interacting with the other students, the player can experience over 20 different endings.

The game will ship in both a standard edition and a deluxe pack in Japan on October 27. Nico Nico's English site and Crunchyroll are streaming the anime version outside Japan.

Episode 28:
Title- Tsubasa wa Eien ni (Wings are Forever)
Airs- 9/4/11
"Mera Mera~ to Hi no Tori Jyaaku na Teki wo Uchitaosu" (Burning Burning~The Phoenix will defeat the evil enemy) This is what Navi's latest Takara Navigate revealed! Marvelous and co. begin to search for the Jetman's great power, thanks to a top from Ikari Gai. Just then, a bike-riding mystery man shows up. This man steals Joe's Mobirates, and his true identity is revealed to be Yuki Gai (played by Wakamatsu Toshihide), the former BlackCondor of Jetman! "Look for the Jetman no further", is his warning.

Bounty Hunter Kiaido will be this episode's villain. Going by magazine scans Yuuki Gai is in fact dead, why he steals the Mobirates from Joe...not quite sure, but he's shown with a CrossChanger in the preview.

Sanjou Yukito (Played by Tomita Shou), Abaranger's former AbareBlue, appears to help the Gokaiger. In tow his Yukito's wife and secretary, Sanjou Emiri (Played by Nishijima Michi), who insists that she was the Abaranger's former AbarePink. Aihm undergoes a "Shichihenge" (a Kabuki dance where the actor changes clothes 7 times). Could one of these changes be....AbarePink?!

A hidden formation, left untaught by Nakadai Mikoto, the former AbareKiller, using the Abaranger's Great Power. Using the Abaranger Keys in GokaiOh, GokaiOh is able to unite with Goujyujin's arms. GojyuGokaiOh presents the idea that different legends have the potential to teach different great powers, and/or that hidden potential exists for all great powers Action Commander Daiyaaru is this episode's villain. This episode was also noted to feature Aihm and Gai pretending to be a couple.

Episode 30:
Title- Tomo no Tamashii dakedemo (Only a Friend's Soul)
Airs- 9/18/11
Liveman's former YellowLion, Ohara Jou (Played by Nishimura Kazuhiko), appears in front of Joe! Joe, who obtains the blueprints to Barizorg, heads to Academia to see if there is a way to return Barizorg to the way he was! Great Scientist Zaien will be this episode's villain

Tuesday, 30 August 2011

In an interview in the Tuesday morning edition of the Asahi Shimbun paper, Puella Magi Madoka Magica writer Gen Urobuchi compared the plot of the Madoka Magica anime to the real-life terrorist network Al-Qaeda. The interview in the newspaper's Culture section begins with the following two questions, which contain spoilers for the anime series.

Asahi: Madoka Magica is an original story. Where did the idea come from?

Urobuchi: I received a request to write a bloody story where magical girls appear, and then drop out one by one. I paid attention to the aspects that are troubling or overlooked in the traditional magical girl genre. I've been thinking that magical girls who have acquired superhuman abilities will find themselves removed from the world, which would cause contradictions and reactions.

Asahi: Magical girls, who are full of hope and who strive to save the people, soon suffer from hatred and jealousy, which turn them into the enemy witches. The change from good to evil left an emotional impact.

Urobuchi: For example, Al-Qaeda brought down the Twin Towers due to their self-righteousness. Justice for some people is an evil for others. Good intentions, kindness, and hope will not necessarily make people happy.

"Sekiranun Graffiti"/"Fallin' Fallin' Fallin'," the new single from supercell composer Ryo and musician Dixie Flatline with vocals by virtual idol Hatsune Miku, will go on sale on the same day (August 31) in Japan, the United States, and Asia. The same single will be sold digitally in the United States, Taiwan, Korea, and Hong Kong; Taiwan will also have the physical CD single for sale.

"Sekiranun Graffiti" will serve as the opening theme song for November's Hatsune Miku -Project Diva- extend, the latest entry in Sega's Hatsune Miku -Project Diva- rhythm action videogame franchise for the PSP. Macross Frontier character designer and episode animation director Yûichi Takahashi is making his directorial debut with the song's musc video. Takahashi not only directed, but also designed, storyboarded, and co-animated the video

Thursday (1st September) sees the eighth episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day premiering in the UK, with End Of The Road being broadcast at 9:00pm on BBC1/BBC1HD. The episode will also be repeated on BBC2/BBCHD the following Tuesday at 12:20am, and available to watch online in the UK via the BBC iPlayer until 23rd September.

PLOT SYNOPSIS FOR END OF THE ROAD FOLLOWS - MAY BE CONSIDERED A SPOILER

End Of The Road - BBC Synopsis:
Captain Jack faces a showdown with a man he thought long since dead. But while Rex takes extreme action, is it too late to prevent the collapse of society?

Saturday's showing of Let's Kill Hitler on SPACE was the most watched broadcast ever on the channel.

Around 834,000 people watched the transmission at 8ET on Canada’s national science fiction, horror and fantasy channel.

When the ratings for the repeat showings are added the episode attracted 1.2 million unique viewers. “Let’s Kill Hitler”, was the most-watched program overall on Canadian television for adult viewers (18-49 and 25-54).

Torchwood Miracle Day, ranked as the number 2 program among adults 18-49. The episode, End of the Road, drew 528,000 total viewers. Both episodes are available within Canada for viewing on spacecast.com.

The British Film Institute is to preview the final series of The Sarah Jane Adventures with an special family exclusive screening of the first story followed by a question and answer session.

The final six episodes of the series, made before the tragic death of series star Elisabeth Sladen, are due to be shown on CBBC this Autumn. In the first adventure, Sky, Sarah Jane discovers a mystery baby on her doorstep. But with explosions, power surges and reports of a Metal man falling from the sky, Sarah Jane is convinced that there's more to the baby than there first seemed.

The screening on 16th September at 6:30pm is a family event, so all adults must be accompanied by children (Max 2 adults per 1 child).

Tickets can only be booked from BFI IMAX Box Office by phone on 020 7199 6000 or in person at BFI IMAX.

Tickets are £9.50, £6.75 Concs (BFI Members pay £1.50 less)

Courtesy of CBBC and BBC Wales.

Just a reminder, brand manager Edward Russell will be walking for charity from next week in order to raise money for the Meadow House Hospice, who looked after actress Elisabeth Sladen.

The Appreciation Index or AI is a measure of how much an audience enjoyed a programme. Figures are based on ratings from a selected panel of 5000 people. The average score for BBC One is 80 with the average for the current Doctor Who timeslot being 82, and the average for Drama being 85.

Monday, 29 August 2011

Highschool of the Dead is released on Monday by Manga Entertainment on DVD (RRP £24.99) and Blu-Ray (RRP £34.99) in a single collection. The series deals with a group of high school students caught up in a zombie apocalypse. Based on the gory, fanservice-heavy manga by Daisuke Satō and Shoji Sato, the twelve-part TV version was made at MADHOUSE by Death Note director Tetsuro Araki. (The collection does not include the one-off OVA episode, "Drifters of the Dead," which was released in Japan this April.)

Manga is also releasing the first individual (four-episode) volume of K-ON! (RRP £17.99). The series is about four girls - drummer Ritsu Tainaka, bass player Mio Akiyama, keyboard player Tsumugi Kotoboki and would-be guitarist Yui Hirasawa - who try to rescue their high school's Light Music Club. The anime is based on kakifly's four-panel strip published in Houbunsha's Manga Time Kirara magazine. The first disc also includes a ten-minute interview with Stephanie Sheh, who voices the character Yui in the English dub. Manga previously said that the "individual" four-episode disc format was a result of the U.S. release strategy, and is planning a two-disc Blu-ray box-set release of the series next March.

Finally, Universal is releasing a DVD edition of Pokémon Zoroark: Master of Illusions (Pocket Monster Diamond & Pearl: Genei no Hasha Zoroark). This is the 13th Pokémon movie, set in the never-before-seen Crown City, where hundreds are flocking to see the Pokemon Baccer World Cup. While the event is taking place, Ash, Pikachu, and their friends encounter a new and mysterious Pokémon they have never seen before. But when the three legendary Pokémon Entei, Raikou, and Suicune arrive and rampage through the streets, the group must uncover the secrets behind the forces at work. The film grossed over $47 million in Japan, where it opened in July 2010. Each DVD box comes with a Pokémon trading card.

The TV Asahi program Onegai! Ranking Gold aired an episode on Saturday with a segment on "amazing" voice actors and actresses. The program asked 100 popular voice actors and actresses about who they thought was really the most amazing person in their profession. The following are the top 25 responses:

The Japanese studio Toei Animation announced on Monday that it and the character goods maker Sanrio will launch the One Piece x Hello Kitty series of collaborative goods in November. The concept of this collaboration has Chopper and the other characters from One Piece coming "to play in the world of Hello Kitty."

Stationery, goods, clothing, accessories, and other items will be rolled out for sale under licensing agreements with about 20 companies. In addition, Sanrio itself also plans to sell character goods. Within a year, about 350 types of characters goods are slated to be sold.

- "We're in Scotland, we can't go much further north."
- "Now you're a vampire."
- "First sign of the meltdown, China closed its borders…"
- "The families want to meet you in person."
- "They're taking you to the blessing."
- "I do have the most recognisible face on the planet."
- "I have the name of the man who created the miracle."
- "The captain invited me in."
- "For the first time in my life, I've met a monster."
- I'm the latest chapter in an epic..."

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is to present the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular next February as part of the celebrations for the grand re-opening of the Hamer Hall venue at the Melbourne Arts Centre.

The concert, similar to the format seen at the two Proms concerts in London, will feature music from the television series, combined with classic clips and live monsters.

Hints;
- ‘Fear Her’, ‘The Eleventh Hour’, ‘The Beast Below’ and ‘Amy's Choice’ are all evoked here.
- Seriously? Did Rory just do that thing he does, again?
- Gatiss returns to a film reference he used in The League of Gentlemen.
- The Doctor loves a Sontaran story.
- A scene from ‘Rose’ is almost repeated.
- Rory thinks that The Doctor is in a long-running UK soap.
- A non-television Doctor Who story is directly referenced.
- Something that happened to Amy and Rory in ‘Let's Kill Hitler’ happens to them again.
- A flaw in the Sonic Screwdriver appears again.
- Is The Doctor thinking about ‘The Greatest Show In The Galaxy’?

Quotes;
- "Please save me from the monsters."
- "Planets, history and stuff - that's what we do!"
- "Maybe we should let the monsters gobble him up?"
- "The TARDIS has gone funny again, some time-slippy thing."
- "When I was your age - ooh, about 1,000 years ago - I loved a bedtime story."
- "I'm not as daft as I look. In fact, I'm not daft at all."
- "Off the scale... off the scale... off the scale..."
- "Bergerac? God help us!"
- "You see these eyes, they're old eyes."
- "What is it with these photos?"

A roundup of some of the comments in the press for the premiere of Let's Kill Hitler - the full articles can be read via the links. Please note that as these are reviews, spoilers may be present.

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United Kingdom

Writing for the Telegraph, Michael Hogan commented:

The show is fond of dropping in historical figures these days. Shakespeare, Dickens, Van Gogh, Queen Victoria, Louis XV, Nixon and Churchill have all popped up since the series was rebooted six years ago. It’s a device which allows the writers to give viewers a playful history lesson, while offering extraterrestrial explanations for past events. Inform, educate and entertain… Lord Reith would approve, although he’d probably be baffled by this plot.

...
The script contained nods to several films: Nazi motorbikes were stolen like The Great Escape, Kingston purred a Mrs Robinson-ish “Hello, Benjamin”, some of the CGI sci-fi tricks recalled Men in Black and The Terminator. “Whopremo” Steven Moffat has compared his complex plotting to Inception, and he does tend towards the tricksy. This was jam-packed full of ideas, twists, turns and wibbly-wobbly time-bending stuff. Giddily thrilling entertainment, albeit rather exhausting. I don’t know how the Doctor does it at his age (a sprightly 909 at last count) but I wouldn’t mind being him when I grow up, either.

Meanwhile, the Telegraph's Doctor Who expert Gavin Fuller wonders if it was a wasted opportunity:

Packing plenty into an episode is all very well, but there is a fine line to be walked between over-egging the style and allowing plots to breathe, and this episode wasn’t totally successful in that count. Although it was enjoyable enough, and we certainly learnt a lot of the back story of Amy, Rory and River, I was left feeling that much more could have been done with the setting. Indeed, much of the story could have been set anywhere and any time, which is a waste of using such a resonant historical period as the backdrop.

Dan Martin of the Guardian said:

For all that, to me Let's Kill Hitler was far more successful as a season opener than A Good Man Goes To War was as a finale. Here was an energetic, timey-wimey tour de force with with gags and flourishes like the car and the crop circles that still maintained a strong sense of what it was about. Most fabulously of all, it was all about Doctor Song. ... If you could keep up, we were given a lot more answers than we might have dared to expect. Yes she did have regenerative powers, but in saving the Doctor she also sealed her fate to that ultimate 'death' in the Library. We learn where she got the Tardis diary. But we still have to deal with the mystery of who she is to the Doctor. Perhaps most brilliantly of all, we solve the continuity niggle of Alex Kingston's reverse ageing: "I might take the age down a little, just gradually, just to freak people out."

Shape-shifting robots and miniaturisation rays in Doctor Who are to be encouraged. But is there an argument, somewhere, that having River/Melody perceived by the people in the Tessalator as a worse war criminal than Hitler maybe, possibly, a little bit dodgy?

Kevin O'Sullivan of the Mirror:

Doctor Who... the usual ball of nerdy confusion as the Doctor and his time-travelling chums hurtled into 1939 Berlin and locked Hitler in the cupboard. Hee hee. A few amusing one-liners, superior special effects... and guest star Alex Kingston’s spirited portrayal of Amy Pond’s demonic daughter Melody. But what was it all about? Don’t ask me. Roll on The Silence.

Neela Debnath wrote in the Independent on Sunday:

Given the dark and depressing tone of A Good Man Goes To War, this episode lifted the mood and made things feel a lot lighter, possibly to create a balance. There were some great slapstick moments when River and the Doctor are trying to second-guess one another. River ends up pointing a banana in the Doctor’s face rather than a gun. Also, the Rory death count has begun and it is only a matter of time before it happens.

Richard Edwards of the Sci-Fi magazine SFX said:

Moffat’s script takes pleasure in wrongfooting you from the start, packing the episode with never-saw-that-coming moments and ingenious reveals. When that red sports car skids up to the TARDIS before the credits, it seems logical that River Song should step out, but no, it’s Mel… Who later turns out to be River Song anyway. Then there’s the Nazi officer-impersonating robot that turns out to be a vessel packed with hundreds of tiny people – very Men In Black – who travel around time and space dishing out justice to war criminals. An ingenious idea, brilliantly delivered – the morphing effects are Hollywood good.

...
Indeed, this has to rank among the cleverest Who episodes Moffat has ever written. After the intensity of “A Good Man Goes To War”, we needed something lighter – which “Let’s Kill Hitler” is – yet Moffat manages to mix the gags and silliness with genuine emotion, and some important additions to the season’s arc plot. Like the “birth” of River Song.

Simon Brew of Den of Geek:

The omission of sorts from the episode was actually Adolf Hitler. He was basically the MacGuffin here, in much the same way that the cybermen were teased in A Good Man Goes To War, and then blown up inside five minutes. In the case of Hitler, he had a few (good) jokes made at his expense, and then got locked in the cupboard. And left there. Let’s Kill Hitler, instead, was far more interested in complicating the relationship between its central characters, which it did terrifically well. Coupled with some of the snappiest dialogue of the show this series, it packed plenty into its near-fifty minute running time. It offered a stark reminder, too, that “the Doctor lies”. As if we didn’t know.

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United States

Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly:

Doctor Who got off to a marvelously energetic, funny, clever, noble mid-season start on Saturday night with the episode titled “Let’s Kill Hitler.” Resolving the cliffhanger of the seventh episode by, with devilish perversity, raising more questions and introducing more plot lines — shaggy-dog story-telling being part of the series’ enduring charm — Doctor Who jumped across time and space in Steven Moffat’s witty script. ... As usual, Smith, Gillan, and Darvill played their roles with dash, while the show grounds them in some authentic emotion. As much fun as it was to see the morphing of River Song, it does leave Amy and Rory childless, doesn’t it? While the Teselecta got under the skin of various people, the series itself gets under the skin of its main characters, and its audience, in a unique manner that continues to play out.

It's a general summary of the important things that happened, so beware of major spoilers!

•Doctor Who started a minute early, and it had a Series 6 Part 1 recap.
•Mels in a sports car.
•The Doctor doesn't know Mels.
•"You've got a time machine. I've got a gun. Let's kill Hitler!"
•Melody with a toy TARDIS.
•Mels, Amy, and Rory grew up together.
•Mels believes in the Doctor throughout school, without meeting him.
•Mels gets Amy and Rory together.
•Guns do work inside the TARDIS.
•Great CGI for shape-changing Tesselecta.
•1938, the TARDIS crashes into Hitler's office.
•Mels regenerates into none other than River Song (as I told you last weekend).
•Hello, Benjamin?
•River admits to being a psychopath.
•Is this a good time to remind everyone that I've said River is a baddie since we first saw her?
•The poison of the Judas Tree.
•Justice department Vehicle 6018.
•Rule 408: Time is not the boss of you.
•River is "a child of the TARDIS".
•And River is left with "The Sisters of the Infinite Schism".
Overall, it was a great story

The onstage events with the voice casts of the Mahō Sensei Negima! Anime Final and Hayate no Gotoku! Heaven is a Place on Earth films sold out within 10 minutes on Wednesday. About 800 tickets were sold for the two Saturday screenings which will have 21 Negima cast members and four Hayate cast members appearing in person.

The Japanese video service Nico Nico Douga will stream the cast members' appearance on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. in Japan (5:00 a.m. EDT).

The "99th volume" of Kenjirou Hata's Hayate the Combat Butler manga announced on Saturday that production on a new anime has been green-lit. The manga volume is being distributed for free at the paired screenings of the Hayate the Combat Butler! Heaven is a Place on Earth film and the Mahō Sensei Negima! Anime Final film.

The original manga — and the two television anime series it inspired — follow a boy named Hayate who serves as a butler, bodyguard, confidante, and more to a girl named Nagi to pay off a 156,804,000-yen (about US$2-million) debt.

Takashi Kumagai, Shogakukan's editor in charge of the Hayate the Combat Butler manga, had revealed in a January interview that the next step after the Hayate film was already being planned. Hata himself had posted on his Twitter account (in English) in April, "The third season : after the movie of the summer of this year. Please wait in expectancy!"

Viz Media will publish the 18th manga volume in North America next month. Bandai Entertainment released the first anime series, and Crunchyroll simulcasted the second anime series in several countries as it aired Japan in 2009.

The Taiwanese production and broadcasting company Gala TV aired a separate live-action television series based on the manga this year, and this series will also air in Japan.

Negima! Magister Negi Magi manga creator Ken Akamatsu reported on Friday that he finally saw the completed version of this week's Negima Magister Negi Magi: Anime Final film on Thursday, and he acknowledged that the final film has changes from the original screenplay.

Like the manga that inspired it, the film follows a magic academy's young teacher and his all-female class. The film is part of a double feature with Hayate the Combat Butler! Heaven is a Place on Earth, and the two films will open together on Saturday.

Akamatsu had planned the film's story as another official version — "version B" or "another true ending" — of Negima's final manga chapter, and he said that the film retains that plot outline. However, he added that the story is a little difficult to follow, particularly in the first half, because the explanation of part of the story's premise had been left out.

Akamatsu suggested that movie-goers remember a simple summary of the story and note the announcement of changes on the film's site. In particular, he suggested that people remember three points: "Tomorrow is the graduation ceremony," "When the Probationary Pactio ends, only one person must be chosen as the partner under the Permanent Pactio," and "The classmates who are not part of the Permanent Pactio will lose all their memories of magic the next morning."

Despite the changes, Akamatsu praised the battle scenes and the last scene in which all the classmates appear. He urged people to go to the movie theaters to see Negima on the big screen and receive the bonus 0th volume of the manga.

You've got a time machine. I've got a gun. Let's kill Hitler!" With those words, Doctor Who blasts back on to the UK TV screens tonight!

Warning: some of these are major spoilers, you may not want to read, if you do you may like to check back and see how you did because two are fakes, as always.

01 River Song makes two stunning entrances.
02 A crop circle to contact the Doctor.
03 Spaceships are people too.
04 "You didn't have to be so Nazi"
05 War criminal bigger then Hitler? Haven't we been looking at her for years?
06 A whispering scene reminiscent of Silence on the Library.
07 The universes best person saved by the universes worst?
08 "Doctor Mengele I presume?"
09 Another Regeneration? Well kind of!
10 Two Amys on 2 motorbikes?

Torchwood:Immortal Sins achieved an average audience of 3.4 million viewers on BBC One and BBC One HD, according to unofficial overnight figures.

The figure was the same as last week, although this week the main opposition came not from Big Brother, but from the first network showing of the feature film, The Duchess staring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes, which gave BBC Two an average of 3.1 million viewers between 9pm and 10.40pm.

The seventh in the Torchwood series had 14.9% of the audience share and was the 10th most watched programme of the day. ITV1 was showing Show Me the Funny Live Final which had 2.6 million viewers. Torchwood started with 3.8 million viewers for the first quarter, which fell to 3.2 million, before recovering to 3.4 million.

As always the overnight figure is only half the story with the final ratings, which include those who record the programme and watch it within seven days, being released in 10 days time.

Mondays late night repeat of episode Six, The Middle Men. was watched by 0.3 million.

The premiere broadcast of the episode on Starz on 19th August achieved 662,000 viewers on its 9pm showing, with an additional 255,000 on the 11pm repeat that night. This gave an overall total of 917,000 viewers, showing an increase of 14% over the audience for The Middle Men the previous week.

Friday, 26 August 2011

Konami Digital Entertainment revealed on its Facebook page on Thursday that it will stream four "TGS Konami Booth Navi" live events on its Ustream channel between now and the Tokyo Game Show.

Konami's Ustream channel is currently streaming a 75-minute broadcast it filmed earlier on Thursday, which introduced the "TGS Konami Booth Navi" program and broadcasted the "Konami Media Conference 2011" event.

The "TGS Konami Booth Navi" program will broadcast live on August 30, September 6, and September 13 from 9:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. in Japan (8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. EDT).

The programs will show footage from and give details about Konami's upcoming properties, including Frontier Gate, Pop'n Music Portable 2, Silent Hill: Downpour, Blades of Time, Senritsu no Stratus, Ao no Eiyuu Birds of Steel, NeverDead, and New Love Plus, all of which will be playable at the Tokyo Game Show.

The Tokyo Game Show will be held from September 15-18 at the Makuhari Messe event hall in Chiba prefecture.

The Japanese publisher Kodansha announced on Thursday that part of this week's Negima Magister Negi Magi: Anime Final film has been altered "due to production issues." Kodansha did not specify which scene or scenes had been altered, but it did say that the part affected was originally slated to be in the film and was even revealed in the film's promotion.

The film is part of a double feature with Hayate the Combat Butler! Heaven is a Place on Earth, and the two films will open together on Saturday.

The website for the Hayate film had announced last week that Tokyo's Shinjuku Wald 9 theater will host an onstage greeting by the cast members of the two films on Saturday at 6:20 p.m., after the 4:00 p.m. screening of the films ends. However, the Hayate film website announced on Wednesday that the onstage greeting after the films has been moved forward by 20 minutes to 6:00 p.m.

An animator named Obata reported in a July 5 blog entry that he had just started working on the animation for the Negima film, even though the film would open at the end of August. The blog entry has since been removed.

Akiyuki Shinbo (Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei) is returning to direct the Negima film at Studio Pastoral and SHAFT with character designer Noboru Jitsuhara of the recent Negima video anime projects. Manga creator Ken Akamatsu is credited with the original story, and Deko Akao (Arakawa under the bridge, Astarotte's Toy, Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream) scripted the film.

A new anime of Gosho Aoyama's Magic Kaito manga will air on September 24 as part of a Detective Conan special. In the new anime, the manga's witch character Akako Koizumi will appear.

Magic Kaito centers on a young budding magician named Kaito Kuroba who follows in his late father's footsteps as the legendary thief Kaitō Kid. Kaito Kid specials are also airing in Japan this month. A new 2-part Magic Kaito manga is running in Shogakukan's Weekly Shounen Sunday magazine this month.

UTBHollywood, United Television Broadcasting's free digital television station that broadcasts in Southern California on channel 18.2, began airing the series Case Closed (Detective Conan) on Sunday, August 21. The anime is based on Gosho Aoyama's long-running manga about a pint-sized detective in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine.

The next two-episode block is scheduled for Saturday, August 27, followed by two more episodes on Sunday, August 28. The episodes are broadcast at 6:30 a.m and repeated at 10:30 a.m the same day. A one-episode block also airs at 10:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays as well.

UTB 18.2 aired a broader slate of anime titles, such as The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Lupin III when it officially launched in 2009. Besides Case Closed the station is still airing an anime program called I can speak Japanese (Nihongo Dekimasu).

The first two films in the Mardock Scramble trilogy, Mardock Scramble: The First Compression and Mardock Scramble: The Second Combustion, will be shown back-to-back at the Scotland Loves Anime festival, which will run in Glasgow and Edinburgh this October.

The films are the first two parts of a trilogy based on the science-fiction suspense novel by Tow Ubukata (Le Chevalier D'Eon). In the story, a teenage prostitute named Rune Balot is murdered in an explosion, then resurrected as an advanced cyborg. Balot takes on the worst of Mardock City's criminals as she looks for vengeance. Megumi Hayashibara voices Rune Balot, in a project directed by Susumu Kudo at the new studio GoHands.

The Scotland Loves Anime festival will run from October 7 to 9 at Glasgow, and October 14 to 16 at Edinburgh. The full festival line-up is due to be announced in the next week, including other UK and EU premieres.

Kaze UK announced at the weekend that it had acquired the Mardock Scramble trilogy. The opening film, Mardock Scramble: The First Compression, had its world premiere at New York Comic Con on October 8 of last year. The second film, Mardock Scramble: The Second Combustion, will open in Japan on September 3.

The BBC has confirmed that episode Nine of the current series of Doctor Who, Night Terrors will be shown at 7pm on Saturday 3rd Sepetmber.

The start time is similar to that of the previous week's episode, Let's Kill Hitler which will be shown at 7.10pm this Saturday.

On BBC One Night Terrors will follow the second celebrity edition of All New Total Wipeout, which this week features comedian Dom Joly, former Blue Peter presenter Peter Duncan, actress Susie Amy and retired footballer Neil Ruddock. It is followed by The National Lottery: Secret Fortune.

ITV 1 will be showing a brand new series during Doctor Who, pitting the Time Lord up against his old enemy Ant and Dec. The Geordie duo will host a new game show, Red of Black?, in which contestants guess the outcomes of a series of challenges for the chance to win £1million on the spin of a wheel. It was Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway which provided the opposition to Rose, the first Doctor Who episode after the series took is long haiitus, it was a battle which Doctor Who won with 10.6 million viewers to Ant and Dec's 7.2 million.

The on the day winner is likely to be The X Factor at 8.15pm.

BBC Two will offer Flog It as an alternative to Doctor Who asking if a Monart vase, a bronze or naval memorabilia will bring home a profit.

Channel 4 offers Great Migrations, an insight into the motives that drive such creatures as walruses, whale sharks, zebras, orang-utans and plankton to migrate. while Channel Five has One-Day International Cricket, England v India.

The BBC have released details for Week 37, which includes the synopsis of tenth episode of the current series of Doctor Who, The Girl Who Waited; this is due to be broadcast on BBC1/BBC1HD on Saturday 10th September, with the broadcast time yet to be confirmed.

**** THE FOLLOWING SYNOPSIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Read the BBC Synopsis:
Amy is trapped in a quarantine facility for victims of an alien plague – a plague that will kill the Doctor in a day – as the time-travelling drama continues.

The Doctor can use the TARDIS to smash through time and break in, but then Rory is on his own. He must find Amy and bring her back to the TARDIS before the alien doctors can administer their medicine.

Rory is about to encounter a very different side to his wife. Can he rescue Amy before she is killed by kindness?

SFX have launched the Sci-Fi Awards for 2012, and unsurprisingly Doctor Who and Torchwood are suggestions for a number of the categories.

Both shows are suggested in the Best TV Show; others include Being Human, Fringe, Game of Thrones, Misfits, Primeval, and The Walking Dead. Matt Smith and Karen Gillan are suggested for the Best Sci-Fi Actor and Actress categories, with the latter also featuring Alex Kingston (River Song), Suranne Jones (Idris) and Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper/Torchwood); other nominees include Aidan Turner and Russell Tovey for Being Human, Andrew Lincoln for The Walking Dead, and Antonia Thomas and Lauren Socha for Misfits. Myles and Jones also pop up in the Sexiest Female category, with John Barrowman represented in Sexiest Male.

Best Monster or Villain sees Madame Kovarian and The Silence suggested, against enemies such as The Red Skull from Captain America, Crowley (played by Doctor Who guest star Mark Sheppard) from Supernatural and Loki from Thor. Best Special Effect is represented by the opening sequence from A Good Man Goes To War; this competes against Asgard from Thor, Paul from Paul, and the train crash in Super 8.

Doctor Who is also suggested in the Best Collectable, Model, Toy or Boardgame category, with the Character Building TARDIS mini set competing with the Fifth Doctor and Tegan fancy dress outfits, plus items like Thor's Hammer and Captain America headphones.

Finally, the UK censored scenes of Jack from Torchwood: Miracle Day is mentioned in the Biggest Disappointment or Missed Opportunity category; this contains amongst other things the fairies in True Blood, Stan Lee absent from X-Men First Class, and Outcasts!

These are SFX suggestions - you can actually vote for anything that has been released, published or broadcast between 15th December 2010 and 19th October 2011 via the voting site.

The winners will be revealed live at the SFX Weekender that takes place in early February 2012 and will be hosted by author Robert Rankin; the results will also be printed in Issue 219 of SFX (due out on the 8th February).

The new Doctor Who Magazine (out 25th August) celebrates the return of Doctor Who to our screens this weekend, with previews of the first four stories in this second half of the series, Let's Kill Hitler, Night Terrors, The Girl Who Waited and The God Complex, plus interviews with Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Alex Kingston, Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, Tom MacRae and Toby Whithouse.

On the controversial title of the first episode:

Matt Smith: It’s Steven [Moffat, writer of Let’s Kill Hitler] being brilliant and mischievous. Also, it’s a direct reference to a line in the episode...

Karen Gillan: Pretty intense laughter from me, too, when Steven told us. It’s just the best title ever… We were, like, ‘Amazing.’ I just love it, because it sounds a little bit controversial. But the subject matter is tackled really well in the episode...

Steven Moffat: Hitler was through and through, appallingly, disgustingly evil. Hitler would be deeply pissed off to know that we treated him as a minor comic character in an episode of Doctor Who. But actually the Hitler story is a bit of a red herring. It’s actually a blatant continuation of A Good Man Goes to War...

Also in this issue:

•Tough Crowd Doctor Who’s showrunner Steven Moffat faces his toughest crowd, in what his wife describes as "the best interview he’s ever given", in Production Notes.
•Herr Today Actor Albert Welling is interrogated by DWM about his role in Doctor Who as the (second) greatest war criminal in history – Adolf Hitler.
•Look, Who's Talking? DWM tries to get a word in edgeways as Matt Smith and the guest star in The God Complex, David Walliams, interview each other!
•Miracle Workers Writer Jane Espenson, Tom Price (Sgt Andy Davidson) and Bill Pullman (convicted killer Oswald Danes) talk exclusively to DWM about their role in the spectacular new spin-off from Doctor Who, Torchwood: Miracle Day.
•Perfect Day The classic 1972 story Day of the Daleks just got better! DWM finds out how a Special Edition of this classic 1972 Third Doctor story was created for its much-anticipated DVD release, and talks to the men responsible: producer Steve Broster, audio expert Mark Ayres and the voice of the Daleks, Nicholas Briggs.
•Monster Invasion DWM takes a nostalgic look back at the 1972 season of Doctor Who – a series that saw the Third Doctor face the Sea Devils, the Ice Warriors and the dreaded Daleks – as our Countdown To 50 continues.
•A New Direction The Doctor is dead, the world is in turmoil and only Donna Noble can save the Earth! The Fact of Fiction looks back to the acclaimed 2008 adventure Turn Left and uncovers the many secrets hidden within the story.
•Tweet, Tweet! Want to know what the Sixth Doctor is doing right now? Or fancy reading what the writers of Doctor Who are thinking about today? Then you need Twitter! DWM proudly presents an invaluable guide to the Doctor Who people you should follow in 2011.
•Kids These Days ... It’s been the subject of much heated debate: have fans today never had it so good? Or were things more fun in the "good old days", before Doctor Who became so easily accessible? Johnny Candon and Toby Hadoke argue the pros and cons of the case in A Battle of Wits!
•Mum's the Word It was Steven Moffat’s first script for Doctor Who, and introduced the character of Captain Jack Harkness. But what will The Time Team make of the 2005 Ninth Doctor and Rose adventure, The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances?
•The Impossible Chrononaut The Doctor and Amy pursue the impossible girl, Chiyoko, through time and space – and get a nasty surprise when then catch up with her – in the first part of a brand new comic strip adventure, The Child Of Time, by Jonathan Morris with art by Martin Geraghty.
•Who's Round? The mysterious Watcher discusses the Doctor’s drinking, challenges readers with the Six Faces of Delusion and celebrates another unsung hero from the supporting cast in Wotcha!
PLUS! All the latest official news, TV and merchandise reviews, previews, competitions and a prize-winning crossword

During the course of this summer, a competition was run by the BBC Learning Department and Doctor Who Confidential to promote creativity in schools by writing a short Doctor Who script featuring the Doctor, a monster and an adversary.

The BBC Press Office have now reported that the winning entry, Death Is The Only Answer, was written by pupils of Oakley Junior School in Basingstoke, and chosen by Doctor Who's head writer Steven Moffat, executive producers Beth Willis and Piers Wenger, and the Controller of BBC Learning, Saul Nassé.

Steven Moffat said:

I loved the shortlisted scripts, there was so much skill and enthusiasm on display that it was actually genuinely, very, very difficult to judge. There was some really, really skilled writing, it was very exciting how they caught the voice of the Doctor and how they used the always stringent limitations of Doctor Who to their advantage.

I come from a family of teachers, I was a teacher, my father's a teacher, my sister's a teacher. We go back teacher generations so it's hard wired for me to want the approval of teachers, so I'm very, very thrilled that its gone down so well with the schools that took part.

Saul Nassé said:

We've been delighted by the response from schools to the competition. We really wanted to motivate children to learn new writing skills and create the next generation of storytellers. Schools have really engaged in the competition and the standard of the writing has shown us that there is a wealth of talent out there which we have been able to tap into and hopefully encourage in the future. It's a great example of a really popular BBC show inspiring people do something truly educational.

The winning script has been made into a "mini-episode" to feature on BBC3 on 1st October, the same day as Doctor Who's series finale, The Wedding of River Song, is scheduled to be broadcast. Doctor Who Confidential followed the whole production process of making the episode from script through to filming, which will form part of this weekend's edition straight after Let's Kill Hitler at 8:00pm over on BBC3.

The Doctor himself, Matt Smith, added when recording the episode:

It was so clever, we were all just bowled over, it was a brilliant script.

Kevin Downing, a Year Six teacher at the school, said the pupils involved in the project were over the moon at winning:

Getting the call to say the pupils were on the shortlist of ten was an unbelievable moment – the thought that Steven Moffat himself would be reading their script! As for winning, it was the experience of a lifetime and one we'll never forget.

Details of the monster/adversary that the Doctor will face in the three minute special are to be revealed on broadcast.

Noel Collins appeared in 3 episodes of the 1989 Doctor Who story Battlefield where he played Pat Rowlinson, the landlord of the hotel in which the Seventh Doctor and Ace stayed while investigating an inter-dimensional distress call.

Collins was best known for his role in the long running BBC police series Juliet Bravo, where he played Sergeant George Parrish throughout the six year run of the show. He also appeared in Play for Today, When the Boat Comes in and the comedy series Bread.

Collins retired at the age of 60 after being diagnosed with lung cancer and undergoing an operation which involved removing a lung. In the 1990's he joined 52 other claimants in a £17million lawsuit against cigarette giants Gallaher and Imperial Tobacco arguing that the companies had been negligent in not reducing the tar content in their cigarettes between 1957 and 1971 once it became obvious that smoking caused lung cancer.

Although the case was dropped in March 1999 Collins retained his anti smoking stance until his death. His widow Helen Collins paid tribute to her husband's bravery in the face of his illness. "He was content in his life but also stoic during the bad times. He became very anti-smoking but he lived through his illness as best he could. Even in his last week he was still getting Juliet Bravo fan mail which he found amusing. He loved the theatre and really enjoyed his career, but without being pretentious or boastful."

Noel Collins died on 15 August after losing his long battle with cancer.

The actress Anne Ridler has died.

Anne Ridler played Gemma Corwyn the second-in-command of Space Station W3 in the 1968 Doctor Who story The Wheel in Space. After appearing in five episodes of the story she sacrificed her life to help the Second Doctor defeat the Cybermen.

Anne Ridler had a long and distinguished career first appearing on television in 1955 and going on to work on over 5 movies and 29 TV serials. Her first screen role was on TV with a regular spot alongside Francis Matthews in the Francis Durbridge series My Friend Charles. Her breakthrough came as a regular in Dixon of Dock Green, appearing as WP Sgt. Chris Freeman from 1962 to 1964. She had guest roles in Moonbase 3 in 1973 and The Tomorrow People in 1975 abd in the 1980' s she played voice of Kate Kestrel, Cy-Star and It-Star in Gerry Anderson's puppet-animated Terrahawks series.

She had small roles in the Hammer film Camp on Yangtse Incident (1957), the Michael Anderson-directed Blood Island (1958) and 633 Squadron (1963).

Some news on future DVD releases emerged at the Fantom Films conventions held over the weekend:

Back in 1964, the story Planet of Giants had originally been filmed as a four-part story, but had the latter two episodes combined into one in order to tighten the plot for a better paced series opener. Though the original recording no longer exists, actress Carole Ann Ford, who played the Doctor's grand-daughter Susan, mentioned at the Dalek Invasion Earth convention that she had recently recorded an audio version of the original script for that fourth episode, The Urge to Live, which she believed is to be for the DVD release of the story.

Further 'lost' material also seems likely to see the light of day. Back in 1979 the final story of Season 17, Shada, had to be abandoned due to BBC strikes with only parts of the studio sessions completed; appearing at the Timelord Tales convention, both Victoria Burgoyne (Clare) and Daniel Hill (Chris) reported that they'd been involved in a new audio recording of the script for the unfilmed material, in which other original cast members participated including Lalla Ward (Romana). They also discussed the missing scenes being recreated in animation, and believed this could form part of a DVD release of the story in the future. (Producer Ian Levine has confirmed that the actors were talking about his production, but that the cast hope for an 'official' release.)

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A recent fire at the Sony warehouse facilities in Enfield led to loss of much of the DVD and CD stock held there, including Doctor Who DVDs due to be distributed by 2|Entertain. However, the company has reported that this will not affect the release of Day of the Daleks, due out on the 12th September (available to pre-order).

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The Restoration Team have recently revived their website that delves into the technical issues involved in restoring the classic Doctor Who stories for DVD release - the site had been in mothballs since The Space Museum/The Chase back in January 2010. The site is in the process of being brought up to date, and new articles have now been added for the first Revisitations boxed set and for Mannequin Mania.

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Further snippets for DVD production have been tweeted by the Restoration Team; this includes an appeal by Chris Chapman for anybody who could provide contact details for Peter Walker (the young boy in The Reign of Terror) - if you can help please let him know.

Recent Tweets about Classic Doctor Who DVD development:
10 Aug ClassicDW: Something on COLONY DVD betrays original release date.
On release, see whether you can spot it!!!
10 Aug ClassicDW: Some hiccups solved - REVISITATIONS 3 takes one step closer to its 2012 release!
12 Aug Ed Stradling: Hoping to have the extra material for the Happiness/Dragonfire DVD set
finished by the end of today.
12 Aug RTnewsfeed: Busy times continue for Mark Ayres with a third new 5.1 surround mix
just commissioned.
13 Aug RTnewsdfeed: Can't move for Martians in Grading Suite 2 at TV Centre this afternoon!
14 Aug Ed Stradling: now off to TV Centre to deliver #doctorwho DVD feature i've done
with Nicholas Pegg
14 Aug Ed Stradling: have just finished grading the last complete Doctor Who episodes for DVD
14 Aug Ed Stradling: (although there may be some additional work in some cases)
15 Aug ClassicDW: Lovely piece about our talented team working on REIGN OF TERROR: http://t.co/NNlCGFc
17 Aug Peter Crocker: 6 part Hartnell story finally delivered. Deleting 2.5TB data highly satisfying.
18 Aug Peter Crocker: I'd forgotten how much fun out-of-phase polygon telecine inserts of
scratched, dirty film can be.
19 Aug Ed Stradling: Soon interviewing Ronnie Marsh, ex BBC drama exec and de facto exec producer
of DW and many other shows. Tweet me your questions for him!

The new edition of the Radio Times (27th August - 2nd September) celebrates the return of Doctor Who to our screens this coming Saturday, with the Doctor once again gracing the front cover for the season opener, Let's Kill Hitler.

The magazine features an exclusive episode guide by head writer Steven Moffat, which finally reveals the titles for the concluding two episodes of the series, Closing Time and The Wedding of River Song.

There are also interviews with Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Alex Kingston. Here, Matt and Karen talk about the downside of fame:

Matt Smith: Getting the Tube is difficult, as is going to a festival. Often it’s just too hot to wear a hood for four hours. It’s not a problem; it’s just how it is.

Karen Gillan: You’re away from where you live nine months of the year so you don’t get to see your friends or your partner as much as you’d like or your family. But it’s worth it, so worth it, because you get to be in Doctor Who.

You can read a sample from the episode guide on the Radio Times website.

The website also offers a review of last week's preview for Let's Kill Hitler, and an interview with Mark Gatiss on the following week's episode, Night Terrors.

The Radio Times have also made a spoof video tie-in for Let's Kill Hitler, based upon the popular Downfall meme

Optimum Releasing has confirmed to ANN that Studio Ghibli's 2010 film, Arrietty, is scheduled for a U.K. home release on November 21, following the film's release in U.K. cinemas. This is the same day as the debut of Ghibli's Whisper of the Heart on U.K. Blu-ray.

As with Whisper of the Heart, Optimum did not give any more details about Arrietty at this time, although the Amazon UK site currently lists Arrietty as coming out both on Blu-ray and DVD. (The Amazon entry also gives the voice-actor names as Bridgit Mendler, Amy Poehler and Will Arnett. These are the actors who will appear in the U.S. dub of Arrietty when the film opens in America next year; however they are different from the actors who appeared in the dub released in the U.K. cinemas.)

As of writing, Arrietty is still playing in venues around the country, some of which can be found here (input your postcode to find local screenings). The film was directed by the first-timer Hiromasa Yonebayashi, and co-written by Hayao Miyazaki, who has a longtime interest in the source book, The Borrowers by Mary Norton. Published in Britain in 1952, Norton's story involves a race of people a few inches high, who 'borrow' what they need from human beings. Ghibli's version focuses on Arrietty, an adventurous 13 year-old Borrower girl, who meets a human boy. The film relocates the story from England to Tokyo's Koganei district, where Studio Ghibli itself is based.

The Japanese production company CoMix Wave Films will release an international Blu-ray Disc version of Makoto Shinkai's 5 Centimeters Per Second (Byōsoku 5 Centimeter) anime film with English dubbing and subtitles. 5 Centimeters Per Second: Global Edition (Byōsoku 5 Centimeter: International Edition) will also include Shinkai's earlier work Voices of a Distant Star and the five-minute version of She and Her Cat, as bonus extras in SD size. Additional SD extras include an abridged version of a previously released interview with the director.

The new edition also includes subtitles in Korean, Chinese (Mandarin), Thai, Indonesian, Italian, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Arabic for the main feature. Voices of a Distant Star will include the original Japanese dub and the remade Japanese dub, Japanese subtitles, English dubbing and English subtitles. She and Her Cat will have Japanese dubbing and English subtitles. The interview extra will have both Japanese and English subtitles. The release date is November 18 for 6,825 yen ($89.30).

5 Centimeters Per Second is Makoto Shinkai's second full-length feature film. The film is split into three individual segments, and it premiered in Japan in 2007. Crunchyroll released the film on DVD in North America.

Shinkai has since released this year's feature film, Children who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below (Hoshi o Ou Kodomo), which is also due to be released on Japanese Blu-ray and DVD with English subtitles on November 25.

SEGA Corporation's Hatsune Miku Project DIVA Arcade game will have its first debut outside Asia at the 2011 J-Pop Summit Festival in San Francisco this weekend, August 27 and 28. Hatsune Miku is the virtual idol created for Crypton Future Media's Vocaloid Character Series software, and Hatsune Miku Project DIVA Arcade is a rhythm game that features songs sung by Hatsune Miku. According to the J-Pop Summit Festival organizers, the event will host the game's "first and only unit outside Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore."

New People, the entertainment and shopping center in San Francisco's Japantown district, will sell US$1.00 tickets to attendees to play the game. Due to time limits, only 50 tickets will be sold each day. On the other hand, attendees of the J-Pop Summit Festival can play the game for free at the J-Pop Summit VIP party, taking place August 27 from 7:30pm to 10:00pm at NEW PEOPLE gallery. Tickets for the VIP party can be purchased for US$20.00. VIP Party tickets with lounge access are US$100.00.

The London International Animation Festival, which will be held from from August 26 to September 4, includes several animated short films from Japan. The first events will be at London's Barbican Centre, and the later screenings will be at the Horse Hospital in Bloomsbury, see below.

Barbican Events

Saturday August 27: Komaneko's Christmas, 20 minutes, 2009 (pictured). A children's film directed by Tsuneo Goda, who is best known as the creator of the furry NHK mascot character Domo. Showing in LIAF Family Screening at 11 a.m.

This item is also repeated at the Rio Cinema near Dalston Kingsland Station (directions) on Saturday September 3 at 1.30 p.m.

Saturday September 3: Music video for Toru Sato's And and, directed by Mirai Mizue; music video for Van She, directed by Daihei Shibata; music video for Subtle's The Mercury Craze, co-directed by Yu Sato and Marc Reisbig; and music video for Themselves' Roman is as Roman Does, directed by Yu Sato. All four films are showing in Music Video Session at 8 p.m.

Viz Media has sent out a call for "visual, graphic and manga-inspired comic artists" to submit work for its charity digital artbook, Art for Hope. The full details are available on the anthology website.

The art should have "hope" as its theme, and not include trademarked characters (unless the artist is the owner). Submissions should be emailed to artforhope@viz.com. If a piece of artwork is accepted for the anthology, its ownership will still remain with the artist.

Launched in partnership with Autodesk, Art for Hope will be sold through the VIZManga.com site and the VizManga app for iOS devices. All proceeds will go to the disaster relief efforts in Japan. The book was announced at the San Diego Comic-Con in July.

In a separate development, the Tokyo-based company Samurai Factory announced that it donated over 70,000 manga and picture books throughout the areas affected by the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake (Higashi Nihon Daishinsai) disaster on March 11.

Samurai Factory produces free web creation services ("Ninja Tools") and appealed to those services' users. The books and manga were sent from all over Japan, and also from China and Korea. They were delivered to regional schools, evacuation centers, temporary housing, and library facilities, with the help of non-profit and volunteer organizations.

According to Samurai Factory president Kenichi Kashiwagi, the manga would be a way for the people of Tohoku to unwind and find some peace of mind.

1.Now loop the loop.
Doctor very lost.
I've been hiding for hours.
Anyone can tell it was a clever lie!
Prepare for tesselation.
We need to go later in his time~stream.
You see? Time travel, never goes to plan.
That blue box? We've got a match.
Let's get married.
Took me years to find you two.
Demon's Run, remember?
I'm not Amelia Pond.

Episode 8: Let’s Kill Hitler, Writer: Steven Moffat, Director: Richard Senior, Guest star: Caitlin Blackwood
Amy and Rory have waited a long time for news of their daughter. Too long. But when they summon the Doctor, the consequence will change all their lives. The Tardis crashes into Berlin in the 1930s and they find themselves face to face not only with Hitler, but with a unique assassin from the distant future – and that’s only the beginning. In the Führer’s office, at the heart the Third Reich, the Doctor is in for one the biggest shocks of his very long life…

Episode 9: Night Terrors, Writer: Mark Gatiss, Director: Richard Clark, Guest stars: Emma Cunniffe, Daniel Mays
Horror in Doctor Who comes in many forms and many places, and a cry of distress reaches the Tardis from the darkest and scariest place in the universe. But where is that exactly? This story began with Mark Gatiss and me chatting on the set of Sherlock. "I’d like to do scary," he said. ‘Do you know where the scariest place in the universe is?’ I’ve known Mark for a while. If he’s decided to tell me where the scariest place in the universe is, I’d better listen. "Where?" I quavered from behind my rapid-deployment Doctor Who fear sofa. "A child’s bedroom" he answered. Parents of Britain – sorry, and good luck!

Episode 10: The Girl Who Waited, Writer: Tom MacRae, Director: Nick Hurran
Time travel is more than just an element of Doctor Who – it’s one of the main characters. I’m going to boast now and say that Tom MacRae’s stylish and moving script is one of the best uses of time travel in any story anywhere – mind-blowing and heart-breaking in every twist and turn. The Doctor has been in Amy and Rory’s life for a long while now – far longer than he ever intended. What if something were to go wrong? When they step from the Tardis into a strange white waiting room, they’re all about to learn just how wrong time travel can go…

The new edition of the Radio Times (27th August - 2nd September) celebrates the return of Doctor Who to our screens this coming Saturday, with the Doctor once again gracing the front cover for the season opener, Let's Kill Hitler.

The magazine features an exclusive episode guide by head writer Steven Moffat, which finally reveals the titles for the concluding two episodes of the series, Closing Time and The Wedding of River Song.

There are also interviews with Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Alex Kingston. Here, Matt and Karen talk about the downside of fame:
Matt Smith: Getting the Tube is difficult, as is going to a festival. Often it’s just too hot to wear a hood for four hours. It’s not a problem; it’s just how it is.

Karen Gillan: You’re away from where you live nine months of the year so you don’t get to see your friends or your partner as much as you’d like or your family. But it’s worth it, so worth it, because you get to be in Doctor Who.

You can read a sample from the episode guide on the Radio Times website.

The website also offers a review of last week's preview for Let's Kill Hitler, and an interview with Mark Gatiss on the following week's episode, Night Terrors.

Episode Five of Torchwood: Miracle Day, The Categories of Life, had a final official rating of 5.17 million viewers according to figures released by BARB.

The programme was the 19th highest rated on BBC One for the week. While the rating was similar to previous weeks the chart placing was much lower because of the exceptionally high ratings achieved by news programmes during the periods of civil disturbance in several English cities which occurred at the start of the week

The final result includes those who recorded the programme and watched it within 7 days. It does not include those watching on iPlayer.

Monday, 22 August 2011

Doctor Who has won a HUGO award for the 2010 series conclusion The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang.

Written by showrunner Steven Moffat and directed by Toby Haynes, the story was shown last June when it wrapped up the events of Matt Smith's first series as The Doctor.

The story beat two other Doctor Who stories, A Christmas Carol and Vincent and the Doctor as well as The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan and **** Me, Ray Bradbury by Rachel Bloom, to win the award for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form).

The award is the fourth for Steven Moffat, having previously won for The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, The Girl in the Fireplace and Blink. Last year the award was won by The Waters of Mars written by Russell T Davies and Phil Ford.

The award for Best Related Work was given to Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It, edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea and published by Mad Norwegian.

The book is a series of essays which delve into the extraordinary aspects of being a female “Doctor Who” enthusiast. Essays include Carole Barrowman discussing what it was like to grow up with her brother John, columnist Jackie Jenkins providing a Bridget Jones’ Diary-style memoir of working on “Doctor Who Magazine,” and novelist Lloyd Rose analyzing Rose’s changes between the ninth and tenth Doctors.

The Hugo Awards are given every year for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories.

Hugo Awards have been presented every year since 1955. The 2011 winners were announced on Saturday evening, at Renovation, the 69th World Science Fiction convention held in Reno, Nevada.

Saturday, 20 August 2011

The October issue of Shueisha's V Jump magazine is confirming on Saturday that Toei Animation's One Piece pirate anime will enter the New World arc on Sunday, October 2. Eiichiro Oda's original manga had entered the new stage in the storyline last October after Oda took an unprecedented four-week break.

Shueisha compiled the first chapters in the New World arc in the 61st book volume in February, and it printed 3.8 million copies, a record that One Piece itself broke in the 63rd volume. The 61st volume became the first book to sell over 2 million copies in just three days (since Oricon began reporting its book ranking charts in 2008).

Keihan Railway announced on Friday that the "Ho-kago Tea Time Train," inspired by the upcoming K-ON! film, will start service on the Ōtsu line on Monday. Wrapped with graphics of the four girls in the K-ON! anime's high school band, the train will run from the Ishiyamadera station to the Sakamoto station in Ōtsu City until late December. In commemoration of the train, Keihan will sell special tickets at the main Ōtsu Station starting on August 28.
Like the two television anime series that preceded it, the K-ON! film was inspired by kakifly's manga about the everyday life of the members of an all-female high school band. The film will open in over 130 theaters in Japan on December 3.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations have now released statistics relating to the distribution figures of magazines for the first half of 2011, which includes details relating to both official publications, Doctor Who Magazine (Panini) and Doctor Who Adventures (BBC).

When compared to previous periods, the data reveals how the average circulation trends have fared:

The figures show that both magazines saw a decline in circulation for the first half of this year, with DWA dropping to below its circulation for the same period in 2010. Further breakdown on circulation can be found within the publication certificates linked to above.

In comparison, the figures for general sci-fi magazine SFX indicated that over the last six months it has maintained its 31,360 average from last year.

David Tennant has been talking to The Guardian Weekend as his run in the West End playing Benedick to Catherine Tate's Beatrice draws to a close.

Tennant talks about his career so far, his life growing up in Scotland and his tabloid reputation as a seducer on the Doctor Who set. "I refute that heartily." he says. "Well, I mean I have had some girlfriends, and I did meet some of them at work you know, my bedpost really has very few notches compared with other actors of my erm, erm, pedigree.

He talks about his future plans following the release of Fright Night next month. "I just like to join the jobs up and hope they will be as varied and interesting as possible. So if I can do a film with DreamWorks, then come back and do a little British film, then do something in the West End, then do something for the BBC, that's great. You learn from experience that the things you think are going to change your life probably won't. Not that I'm looking for it to be changed. I'm very happy with what I've got."
Colin Baker joined experts from East Cambridgeshire District Council, Cambridgeshire Constabulary and Job Centre Plus in the cathedral city of Ely on Friday in a day aimed at helping residents tackle any life challenges that they may face.

The Sixth Doctor was joined by experts in housing, policing, benefits and drug awareness as well as a Dalek, a Cyberman and an Ood. Baker, who is currently touring in Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White, gave his time free for the event.

"I think everyone knows that it has been a difficult time for many people over the last few years and I know a lot of people who have or are struggling to keep their heads above water," he said. "I hope that in a small way I can attract people along who might not necessarily seek help who can then talk to the experts who will be on hand."
Christopher Eccleston is currently filming in the North East of England in a comedy drama about a grumpy pensioner who joins a local choir.

Also staring Gemma Arterton, Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp, Song For Marion by Paul Andrew Williams is a comedy drama about a grumpy pensioner Arthur (Terence Stamp) who is reluctantly inspired by his beloved wife Marion (Vanessa Redgrave) to join a highly unconventional local choir.

Eccleston plays their son James in the Steel Mill Pictures production.
Matt Smith has been snapped in a fetching white sailor's hat with wide-rimmed glasses as he rowed on the Thames while filming for the new BBC Drama Bert and Dickie. Smith is playing Bert Bushnell, one half of the rowing team that won the gold medal in the 1948 Olympics in London for the double scull.

The return of Doctor Who next weekend of course means the return of the behind-the-scenes series Doctor Who Confidential! The BBC have released two videos to tie in with the forthcoming episode, Let's Kill Hitler.

Doctor Who Confidential will be on BBC3/BBCHD on Saturday 27th August, from 8:00pm.

The Japanese production company Toei unveiled "Rebellions," a 133-second demo movie that was produced at Toei Digital Center's Tsukun Laboratory, on its YouTube Channel on Friday. Koichi Sakamoto, the action director for much of the Power Rangers franchise, directed this short. The cast includes Nao Nagasawa (Ninpū Sentai Hurricaneger), Minami Tsukui (Kamen Rider Den-O), and Saaya Irie (Hell Girl, Kyo no Gononi).
Toshiyuki Kimura (Casshern) was a concept designer, and Yasushi Nirasawa (Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Hellboy) designed characters. Dango Takeda (Kamen Rider, Gantz, Mamoru Oshii's Assault Girls) designed the costumes, while Atsushi Takeuchi (Appleseed, Ghost in the Shell, Yukikaze) designed the motorcycle.

The video ends with a pitch for investing partners to develop the property further.

Detective Conan manga creator Gosho Aoyama started a new, two-part Magic Kaito: Kid the Phantom Thief manga story in this year's 38th issue of Shogakukan's Weekly Shounen Sunday magazine on Wednesday. It is the first new Magic Kaito story in four and a half years.

The Magic Kaito story follows Kaito Kuroba, a boy who enjoys magic like his deceased father, a former magician, did as well. Kaito discovers that his father was the original, legendary thief Kaitō Kid, and he decides to take up the mantle.

Kaitō Kid often crosses paths with Detective Conan and has appeared as a rival of the diminutive detective both in the Detective Conan manga and in various anime stories.

Four Kaito Kid special episodes have been "hijacking" the Detective Conan timeslot for four weeks this month.

A Magic Kaito television anime special aired last April as the first anime adaptation of the manga.

The Japanese adult game producer NAVEL began streaming the opening movie for the World Wide Love Sekai Seifuku Kanojo Fan Disc PC game on Tuesday. (To turn off the superimposed comments in the video, select the word balloon icon in the bottom right corner of the video.) NAVEL will release the game on October 28.

The game features five heroines: Yumeko Yamino, Tsubakiko Munemoto, Sakurako Tono, Nako Kona, and Ako Hananomiya.

Some of NAVEL's previous properties, such as Shuffle! and We, Without Wings, have been adapted into television anime series. MangaGamer has released the Shuffle! adult visual novel game in English. FUNimation Entertainment licensed the Shuffle! television anime adaptation in 2007. Funimation also licensed the We Without Wings - Under the Innocent Sky television anime series at A-Kon this year.

The Japanese game developer LEVEL-5 Inc. will host a "Level-5 World" event at the Tokyo Big Sight event hall on Tokyo's artificial island of Odaiba on October 15-16. The company will announce new games, present playable demos of upcoming titles, and will host a special stage event for its Inazuma Eleven and Danbōru Senki (Little Battlers eXperience) franchises during the event. Level-5's annual press conference, "Level-5 Vision," will take place within the event on October 15.

Level-5 has launched Japanese teaser website for the event, which is free for both the press and the public.

Level-5's titles also include the Professor Layton series. The company also developed Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King for Square Enix, and collaborated with Studio Ghibli on the Nintendo DS role-playing game Ni no Kuni. Level-5 is currently working the new Gundam AGE television anime series, which is slated to air in October.

Showfax,inc. has casting call 'sides' of Red, Black, Blue, Yellow and Pink Rangers. Some fans bought it and found out that they are the same sides as before of Samurai, because it has the original names of Sadie, Ava, etc. Auditions are for the week of August
22nd is Monday through Thursday from 10-noon and 1:00-5:00 PM in Los Angeles, California. I have no idea what this is for, if to re-cast the series or what. Iris Hampton is the casting director, the same that put that Power Rangers was her job on Facebook and under a week, her settings had to change because of bothering fans.

SADIE stands outside the gym where the rescued children play. She is wounded
just above her right hip. Slowly, she sits on the floor and leans against the wall.

AVA comes looking for her.

AVA
SADIE, SADIE, are you okay?

SADIE
Yes, it's nothing.

AVA notices blood.

AVA
You're injured. Let me see.

SADIE
I told you. Don't worry. Just go back. I'll meet you inside.

AVA
I won't leave you like this.

SADIE
I'm fine, please.

AVA
I think you need to rest a while.
The kids are fine.

SADIE looks into the room and sees a group of girls playing with dolls and toys.

SADIE
I always wanted to play like that.

SADIE turns to AVA. She smiles but is sad.

SADIE (CONT’D)
I never got to play with other girls. When I was young,
all I wanted to do was play house, pretend I was the mom, but...I
always had to practice, to train...I'm sorry for
talking this way. I don't quite feel like myself.

AVA
It's okay. That's your dream? To marry...

SADIE
Sometimes, I just wish I could have a normal life; become a normal
wife, maybe even a normal mother one day.

AVA
I am sure you will be all of those things.

SADIE
Well, that was the plan. But sometimes, I think
about what would happen if we...

AVA
I know...
Sadie brushes it off with a smile.

SADIE
I'm sorry. I'm just being...such a

AVA
No. It's fine. I understand.

SADIE
Let's go back inside. C'mon. I don't know
what's gotten into me. I'm getting so emotional...
Sadie smiles to AVA and tries to get back up, but she is
held back by the shooting pain in her side.

They match the Samurai ones from last year, courtesy of Linear Ranger.

Episode Six of Torchwood, The Middle Men, suffered at the hands of Big Brother, seeing its overnight ratings drop to 3.4 million, the lowest in the series so far.

The Celebrity edition of the reality show launched on Channel 5 with an average of 5.1 million watching the likes of Speakers wife Sally Bercow, David Hasselhoff's ex wife Pamela Bach-Hasselhoff and Jedwood, enter the infamous house, giving the Channel one of its biggest audiences ever.

Torchwood, had a share of 14% of the total television audience. It had 3.7 million viewers for the first quarter, dropping to 3.2 million for the last quarter. On ITV1 Single Handed had 3.2 million watching, roughly the same as last week.

The final ratings will be released in 10 days and will include those who record the programme and watch it within seven days.

Mondays late night repeat of episode Five, The Categories of Life. was watched by 0.4 million.

Aurum Press have announced that the autobiography of Elisabeth Sladen will be published on 7th November 2011, following her life from her humble Liverpool beginnings through to a celebrated return as the popular sidekick to the Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, in her own series for CBBC.

When Elisabeth Sladen first appeared as plucky journalist Sarah Jane Smith in 1973 Doctor Who story The Time Warrior, little did she know the character would become one of the most enduring and fondly remembered in the series' history. The coming years would see her traverse time and space alongside classic Doctors Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, whilst a generation of children crouched behind the sofa, terrified but transfixed as their tea time heroine found herself menaced by Daleks, dinosaurs, Cybermen, man-eating alien flora, Egyptian mummies, extras in Bubble Wrap and even the Loch Ness Monster.

By the time she quit the TARDIS in 1976, making front page news, Elisabeth had become one of the most familiar faces of a TV golden age. But that wasn't the end of Sarah Jane. Since then Elisabeth has reprised the role many times appearing in anniversary specials; a 1981 spin-off with robotic sidekick K-9; radio plays; and for the BBC's Children in Need. She's toured the weird, wide and wonderful world of Doctor Who fandom and regularly tops polls of fans' all time favourite companions. So when TV wunderkind Russell T. Davies approached her to come back again, this time to a Doctor Who backed by multi-million pound budgets and garlanded with critical plaudits, how could she possibly say no?

Now Elisabeth Sladen tells the story of her remarkable career: a unique, insider's view of the world's longest running science fiction series; and of British television yesterday and today. Funny, ridiculous, insightful and entertaining hers is the story of another girl, another planet. Elisabeth Sladen plays companion Sarah Jane Smith in Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures. She has also appeared in Coronation Street, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and Z-Cars.

(available to pre-order from our Amazon Shop)

Originally slated for April, completion of the book was delayed through Sladen's illness and her untimely death earlier this year; it has now been completed with the support of her family. Her editor, Sam Harrison, reflected:
I remember my first meeting with Elisabeth – the hilarious and eye-opening stories she had to tell and my feeling of elation that she wanted to turn them into a book. Having grown up watching her as Sarah Jane Smith it was a personal dream come true. She was a fantastic person to work with – fun but utterly professional – and it’s incredibly sad that she’s no longer with us. I’m glad she had a chance to share some of her memories in this book. I hope it will make a fitting tribute to a great actress and a wonderful woman.

The final series of The Sarah Jane Adventures is expected to be broadcast in the Autumn.